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Rene Bourque scored his first goal of the season at just the right time. The time was 2:50 into overtime and the goal gave the Flames a 1-0 win in Nashville. Rene Bourque, who has been out since the start of the season with a head injury, had a great return to the lineup and played well on the Flames 3rd line.

Despite several good chances by both teams, the game remained scoreless through 3 periods. Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne and Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff were both solid in net, but the difference ended up being one shot. The Flames had a total of 35 shots on net, while the Preds ended up with 34. Kipper had the more spectacular stops, including an amazing one on Martin Erat, and ended up walking away with the shutout.

Though it wasn’t an overly-physical game, Ryan Sutter was the recipient of a solid hit from Cory Sarich early in the first period. It appeared as though Suter injured his knee on the play and didn’t return to the game.

After a slow start to their season, the Flames found a way to get 2 points in their first of 3 games on the road. The Flames play in the first two periods was good – not spectacular, just good, but the third period and overtime showed a little more of what the fans are looking for. Sure the team only scored one goal, but their team play and passing was much better than it had been in both of the Flames losses this year. The Flames play, which so often can be characterized by breaking down late in the game, was very good in the third period and into overtime.

Here is Brent Sutter’s post-game comment:

In the 3rd period, outside of a couple chances, we didn’t give up much.

Indeed the Flames did play well late in the game, especially when the pressure was on. They supported their goaltender and didn’t allow any easy chances for the Preds who have now lost their second consecutive game in overtime.

Greg is the founder of Red Mile Blog has been following the Flames through good times and bad since they arrived in Calgary in the early 80s. He has written hundreds of articles on the Flames since 2005 and considers himself an expert on hockey inconsistency and frustration. He shoots right and usually plays defence, but has been known to jump up in the rush. He is a 2-time CAHL men's league champion and knows the sweet taste of beer from a Cup.